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World War III
Rising from the ashes of the Eugenics Wars of the mid-1990s, the era of World War III was a period of conflict on Earth that eventually escalated into a nuclear cataclysm and genocidal war over issues that included genetic manipulation and Human genome enhancement. World War III itself ultimately lasted from 2026 through 2053, and resulted in the death of some 600 million Humans. ( ; ; ) , as a soldier of one of the armies of World War III.]] The war was fought in an era where various factions were known to control their military with narcotics. ( ) Among the parties involved was the Eastern Coalition (also referred to as "the ECON"), whose direct attacks included those against the United States. ( ) In 2026 at the start of the war, Colonel Phillip Green led a faction of eco-terrorists that was ultimately responsible for the loss of 37 million lives. ( ; ) :Some of this information, such as when the war started and its basic causes, comes from an historical archive screen seen in "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II". The death toll matches the "despotic" deaths mentioned by Spock in "Bread and Circuses" as being from WWIII. See the Eugenics Wars for a discussion of Spock's comment on the "last so-called world war" from "Space Seed." s in 2269]] Colonel Green's activities during the war are often cited as "genocidal" and treacherous. He and his troops personally killed hundreds of thousands of individuals affected with radiation sickness and other "impurities," using as a rationale that it was necessary in order to prevent their passing on such traits to later generations. ( ) He was notorious into the 23rd century for striking at his enemies in the midst of negotiating with them. ( ) Despite an ongoing global conflict, the New United Nations was among the first attempts to rebuild humanity during this era; by 2036, it had declared that no Human being would be held accountable "for the crimes of their race or forebearers." But not everyone would heed or respect this decree. ( ) Humanity eventually turned over a new leaf when a few courageous people began to realize they could make a difference. ( ) The war finally culminated circa 2053, when several of Earth's governments met in San Francisco to declare a cease-fire, effectively ending the war. ( ) As a result of this world war, like the two that came before it, whole generations were nearly wiped out. ( ) By that time, many of the planet's major cities and governments were destroyed, and 600 million people had been killed. ( ) The subsequent use of nuclear weapons engulfed Earth with a immense dust cloud, which ultimately resulted in numerous nuclear winters. ( ) When it was over, Earth was irradiated with a detectably-heightened amount of radioactive isotopes in the atmosphere. ( ) Two years later, Colonel Green gave an impassioned speech asking for the impure to be once again be purged from society. ( ) First Contact with the Vulcans in 2063 lead to increased recovery from the war for parts of the world. ( ) However, despite this contact, various parts of Earth were still affected by what became known as the "post-atomic horror". In 2079, for instance, one such culture reverted to a state of near-barbarism that followed the credo: "Kill all the lawyers," and "Guilty until proven innocent." ( ) Due to these and other factors, parts of Earth continued to be in – as Captain Jean-Luc Picard put it in 2365 – "chaos" well into the early 22nd century. ( ) The post-atomic horror gave way to the stirrings of new attempts at establishing various unified world alliances, including the European Hegemony in 2123. ( ) These alliances would eventually be instrumental in the establishment of the United Earth Government in 2150. ( ) The legacy of the war was felt in many ways during the hundred years after its conclusion. It was the subject of many films during that time, and in 2153 one of these epics won a majority of movie awards. ( ) In the early 22nd century, the philosophy of Neo-Transcendentalism was founded by Liam Dieghan; he advocated "a return to a simplier life" in response to the war's carnage. ( ) The war additionally influenced the powerful xenophobic movement of the mid-22nd century on Earth known as Terra Prime. Led by John Frederick Paxton, the organization drew inspiration from the war through adoption of Colonel Green's goals and teachings concerning a "pure" Human race. It also blamed the Vulcans for not stopping the war with their superior technology, and thereby saving the lives of hundreds of millions of people. This blame was then channeled into a general distrust of all non-Humans. ( ) In 2372, Admiral Leyton described the threat of the Founders of the Dominion infiltrating Earth and its facilities as being "maybe the greatest danger it's faced since the last world war." ( ) Background It is interesting to note that Miles O'Brien and Kira Nerys visited San Francisco in the year 2048 of an alternate timeline (where the Bell Riots had not occurred) in . Upon their return to 2371, O'Brien noted that that was "not the mid-21st century that he had read about in school," adding "Earth history had its rough patches, but never that rough." It was clearly an understatement, and one is left to wonder what O'Brien saw that was more "rough" than nuclear war and the 600 million casualties of World War III. According to the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction catalogue, during the middle of ENT Season 4, plans were in place for an episode to feature Colonel Green. It was planned to link Q's World War III uniform to the Colonel by having the emblem on Q's hood appear on flags representing Green. Such a flag was created for , and seen in the briefing room aboard the [[ISS Enterprise (NX-01)|ISS Enterprise]]. When Enterprise was canceled, plans for the episode fell through' and all that remains of the link between Q's uniform and Colonel Green is the flag seen in the mirror universe. Category:Earth conflicts de:Dritter Weltkrieg